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I'll never understand America's fascination with these "famed" families. Do people really think this stuff is real? Come on, it may not have a script, but you'd better believe they do their damn best to make it "interesting" to stay on the air. Granted, I do watch TV..but I've got better things to do than watch any of these BS reality family shows. And putting a child in the center of all this..pathetic. And I say that for all..including fans, parents, and TV. I saw something on Yahoo about her behavior on Dr. Drew. A. I think he was just trying to cash in too...but B. Her behavior is pathetic for a child of her age.

I actually like the show when I want something silly to watch. Mom got pregnant at 15, yet raised her children, finished school and worked. Mama and Sugar Bear do love those kids and the family seems to be pretty close. They make the best of what they have, and as someone else said those kids do appreciate what they do have. I also get the impression that Alana likes to do the pageants, and if she didn't want to do them she wouldn't be pushed into it.

Never really had any desire to watch it until one of my friends was talking about how funny it is. It's not everyone's sense of humor, but I found it funny in a odd kinda way.

There are a lot worse parents out there than Mama and Sugar Bear. Honey Boo Boo is a confident kid, more confident than I was growing up in a pretty structured home! All the girls are, and I think it's because of the Mom. She really does love those kids and is very supportive of them.

I'd rather watch a show about them, than a show about all those parents that go bug-nuts and kill their kids or leave them screaming in their own filth for days.

OveroHunter;
Seriously?
Anyone who would consider all GA peeps as HBB clones has more serious problems of their own to contend with!

All I know of HBB comes from snippets on network TV - news or talk shows. And what I've seen gives me the willies.
Shows like this make me glad I do not have cable or satellite TV - network is bad enough!

And for that matter, anyone who truly believes "reality" shows are not scripted, I have a bridge in Brooklyn you might be interested in...

Time is $$$.
TV network execs and the Big Money sponsors don't care to waste either with unpredictable outcomes.
Even the so-called "contest" shows - Idol & DWTS come to mind - have predetermined outcomes, no matter how many votes we, the people, call in.
The whole idea reminds me a bit too much of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.
I have seen the Future and it is stooopid.

Mama and SB may be loving parents, but Alana is OUT OF CONTROL for the most part. I saw snippets of her on various talk shows and while I don't mind precocious (she does have her own tv show) her behavior even for a 7yo was borderline rude and obnoxious. Do that on your own show, but learn how to frakking behave in public, because I guarantee when she's no longer a cute kid but a teenager or grown adult, her behavior will be seen as ANYTHING BUT cute. THAT is the disservice that mama and SB are doing to those kids.

Also, how old is the daughter that just had the baby??? I get that accidents happen even to the best families and kudos to them for sticking by her and all, but really? If mama started having her kids at 15 you'd think she'd want better for her kids. Nothing I ever saw indicated the LEAST bit of disappointment in her daughter's situation.

One of the Kardashians has kids out of wedlock, too, but they have money, so it's okay.

I'm sure the HBB mother did want a better life for her kids, but that daughter is no worse that all the "pretty" celebrities popping out illegitimate kids right & left. Oh, yeah, and then there's Bristol Palin. (lol)

Sadly, Mama may have learned a hard lesson in life: when you look like she does, sometimes the only way you can get respect is to be tough and to (in self-defense) have a rough exterior.

That's what got Sonny Corleone killed--Connie Corleone's new husband, Carlo Rizzi, threw all the spaghetti on the wall, beat up Connie, and took off. Sonny's temper got the better of him and he jumped in his car--where he was ambushed by his father's enemies at the toll booth. Carlo paid for that later.

I also find the family sort of endearing. Like, for example, the "sketti" dinner, that's all they had to eat and no one complained about it--they ate their meal their mother prepared and appreciated it. They are not a rich family but appear to be happy with what they have and I hope that by participating in this reality show, those kids will have a chance for a future that may not have been a possibility for them before.

I know … judgey of me, but why serve “sketti” – Ketchup and butter, which is really unhealthy, when you could serve a bottle of jarred spaghetti sauce for about the same price, which would be much lower in fat and sodium, and provide a bit more in the way of nutrients. Pasta sauce is often on sale for $1.50 a jar around here, Ketchup costs more that that, and butter is not cheap.

It might not matter what you look like on the outside, but feeding your children food like this is very unhealthy – and will affect your insides! These children are being setting up for a lifetime of health problems. Obesity in children is not cute, feeding your children with no regard to their health isn’t exactly responsible.

Go go juice?!?!? Feeding her daughter RED BULL mixed with Mountain Dew? Why would that ever be ok to give to a child? (Oh right, it hypes her up for the pageants, because that is more important than the negative effects of consuming such garbage).

Honey Boo Boo is learning her life lessons on how to eat – lots of junk, and no nutrition. My family was strapped when I was a kid. But my mom always did her best to provide us with nutritious food, maybe not the stuff we were excited about eating as kids, but I am so thankful she took the time to make large batches of sauce to freeze (as it was the cheapest way to go), rather than feeding us Sketti.

(and yes – she tossed a noodle against the wall to see if it stuck! - I thought everyone knew about that one!)

Okay, actually I watched because I saw the South Park episode. I wasn't going to before that

Two things:

1- 'Sketti' is NOT ketchup and butter, it's Country Crock and ketchup. I don't know why this makes a difference to me but it does. My husband and I feel ashamed because a regular meal in our house is pasta, parm cheese, butter, and turkey meatballs, we called (past tense) it 'sketti'. Here's a general rule of cooking in our house though: thout shalt not scoop the margarine with the ice cream scoop, that is too much. (I am solid for pretty much anything but when that came out of the microwave on the show a tub filled with essentially vegetable oil and ketchup I got super nauseous).

2- The dad is a super father. He works 7 days a week in chalk mines to support this woman and a bunch of kids that aren't his. The faraway look in his eyes makes me super sad sometimes. I am NOT a traditionalist but the fact that he wants to marry her and she won't is so profoundly sad (I've read she would lose benefits, but I'm hoping that's a moot point now.)

Oh, also, how the kids are at the gas station buying junk food all the time is sad. I did enjoy the ridicule from the gas station employees though

She is an overweight toddler pageant queen - and apparently has her own reality shown which is a spin off of the disgraceful "toddlers in tiaras" where young little girls are featured with tons a makeup and sexy outfits, doing their “thing” onstage.

Honey Boo Boo’s family may bring big laughs and ratings on their reality show, but the family’s shady past — including four kids by four different criminal fathers — is no laughing matter.

Here Comes Honey Boo Boo has made America laugh (and cringe) since it premiered on Aug. 8, but the reality behind the reality show’s zany family is quite shocking.

Alana Thompson, aka Honey Boo Boo, was a breakout star during her segment on TLC’s Toddlers & Tiaras. But it was Mama June Shannon, the family’s matriarch, who is in the spotlight after their spinoff reality show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo has aired.

Honey Boo Boo lives with June and her dad, David Michael “Sugar Bear” Thompson, who are not married. Alana’s four sisters actually all have different fathers, two of whom are convicted criminals.

The oldest sister, Anna “Chickadee” Shannon, 17, was fathered by a man named David Dunn, 37, who didn’t even know he had a kid until June took him to court when their daughter was 4 years old!

He went to prison for stealing a handgun in 1995, and again in 1998 for stealing several cartons of cigarettes, according to the National Enquirer.

“They wanted me to sign away my rights to Anna, but I refused,” he told the magazine. “June won’t let me see her.”

15-year-old Jessica “Chubs” Shannon‘s dad is Anthony Michael Ford, 35, who is a registered sex offender in Georgia, and served more than two years in prison in 2005 for sexually exploiting a child, but he too claims that Mama June won’t let him see his daughter.

To add to the confusion, no one is really sure who 12-year-old Lauryn’s father is. “I don’t think June even knows who it is,” a source told the magazine.

Even Sugar Bear has a criminal record. He was sentenced to five years for robbing a series of hunting camps, according to the National Enquirer, and June spent some time in the slammer for passing bad checks and stealing money from McDonald’s when she was an employee.